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Greece: Syriza congress unites its forces for a left government

July 19, 2013 -- Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
-- Over the July 10-14 weekend, at the first congress of Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left), it was
obvious that history was being written in indelible ink. This was a
congress that changed the Greek left.

Faced with the challenge of
rising growth opening the door to future government, the left coalition
took the step of becoming a party. Hence this first congress, where
everything was spelled out — from founding principles to political
orientation and statutes. And, of course, where everything was discussed
and different positions clarified, always with typical Greek passion.

Attendance:
3430 delegates. This statistic reveals the enormous commitment that the
party invested into building this congress. Its deliberations lasted
from July 10 to July 14, when 3412 delegates participated in the
election of the president. It was an extraordinary sensation to enter
that hall and feel the energy of the delegates, the intensity of the
discussion and the attention given to all points of detail.

Political discussion: The
draft declaration of principles and political document were developed
over the days of the congress by a representative group of delegates
chosen for that purpose. Plenary sessions were devoted to discussion and
vote on the general line and to voting on amendments and
counter-positions. Beginning with the goal of rescuing Greece from the
clutches of austerity, the new party adopted socialism as its strategic
objective.

Worth registering was the discussion around questions
that are also close to us [in Portugal]: the position of the party with
regard to the euro and public debt, and the composition of a future
government committed to overthrowing the Troika [of the European
Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund]. The
final goal is the renegotiation of the debt, with a sharp reduction in
amounts owed, but without any surrender of Greek rights in the euro
zone.

And also without surrendering to blackmail over the common
currency, a government led by Syriza will not take Greece out of the
euro zone, but it will not accept any more sacrifices in the name of the
common currency. The party strengthened its commitment to governing by
rejecting austerity.

The high point of the congress was the
embrace of Manolis Glezos with Alexis Tsipras. The 90-year-old Greek
resistance fighter in the Second World War is famous for having pulled
down the Nazi flag flying over the Acropolis and replacing it with the
Greek flag — an act that inspired Greeks to resist the occupation.

At
the congress Glezos made an inopportune first speech, rejecting the
proposed approach of transforming existing parties in the coalition into
internal tendencies. News of divisions within SYRIZA were not slow in
coming to light and everything appeared to be going badly in the
development of the congress.

The next day came Tsipras’s reply, in
which he appealed to the need for unity and for Syriza to project
itself as a party in order to win the next elections. Manolis Glezos
stood up and gave Tsipras an enormous hug, then asked for the floor in
order to demonstrate the unity between the various generations of the
left. The party left the congress united, with a short period granted
for existing affiliates that had not yet dissolved to do so.

The
discussion of the statutes and of elections attracted great
participation. The method of election of the president and central
committee took up most of the interventions, with the model of election
of the president being by vote of all delegates. Alexis Tsipras was
elected president of the new Syriza with 74% of the vote, a result
exceeding initial expectations.

The method of election of the
central committee was also debated in depth. Among the methods
presented, the winning proposal was that of a united, open list, which
competed against alternative lists.

The results were as follows:
the united list obtained 67.61% of the votes, the Left Platform 30.15%,
members not aligned to any tendencies 1.03%, the Communist Tendency
0.74% and Citizen Intervention 0.27%. The Intervention for Unity
Tendency did not elect any member, achieving only 0.21% of the vote.

A
personal note should record the meeting that Alexis Tsipras had with
the Left Bloc delegation. Marisa Matias and Alda Sousa [Left Bloc
members of the European Parliament] and I brought fraternal greetings to
this new page that has opened in the history of the Greek left,
expressing the hope that it will lead to the rapid defeat of the Troika.

From
Greece came a word of hope for the Portuguese people in the struggle
against the polities of austerity, in the certainty that while a sea may
separate us, the values that unite us are stronger.

[Mathematician Pedro Filipe Soares is a Left Bloc MP in Portugal's parliament.]

Report on the 1st Congress of SYRIZA

By Yiannis Bournous

Transform -- The 1st Congress of SYRIZA took place in
Athens, 10-14 July 2013. Approximately 3500 delegates dealt with the
major tasks of formulating the Political Declaration, the Political
Resolution and the Statutes of the new party, while evaluating the
current situation in a national, European and global level and discussed
on the ideological and programmatic features of the transformed SYRIZA
and the project of the government of the Left.

The political discussion mostly focused on
issues like the Euro and the Eurozone, as well as the possible alliances
and political priorities for the formation of the government of the
Left.

It is worth mentioning that the proposed Political
Resolution text that was submitted to the delegates by the Resolution
Committee of the Congress was commonly accepted as the basis of
discussion.

The major minority of the party (“Left Platform”)
submitted four amendments on the aforementioned key issues. According to
the process that was followed, every proposed amendment was supported
by two speakers and also confronted by two representatives of the
Resolution Committee of the Congress. After vivid disucssions, the
Political Resolution was approved by the vast majority of the delegates,
while the four proposed amendments submitted by the “Left Platform”
were rejected.

Moreover, the 1st Congress of SYRIZA voted on the
first Statutes text of the party and, during this discussion, the
delegates dealt – among others – with the question of the transformation
of SYRIZA into a unified, multi-tendency party, through the
transformation of its former components into tendencies, the electoral
methodology for the Central Committee and the President.

Concerning the fate of the components, the decision
was that those components which have not yet been dissolved, will get an
extra period of time, in order to decide through a consultation
process. In any case, the new Statute of SYRIZA is binding for all the
members of the new party.

As far as electoral methodologies are concerned, the
Congress decided that the new Central Committee will consist of 201
members and that the President will be directly elected by the Congress
delegates. An important part of the discussion focused on the electoral
system for the Central Committee. Despite the willingness of the
majority of delegates for an election of the C.C. through a single list,
in the end six different lists were presented.

As far as electoral methodologies are concerned, the
Congress decided that the new Central Committee will consist of 201
members and that the President will be directly elected by the Congress
delegates. An important part of the discussion focused on the electoral
system for the Central Committee. Despite the willingness of the
majority of delegates for an election of the C.C. through a single list,
in the end six different lists were presented.

In a press release after the end of the Congress,
Alexis Tsipras stated:“The founding Congress of SYRIZA constitutes a big
step, a historical landmark for the Greek Left and for democracy.
Approximately 3500 delegates from all over Greece sealed the birth of
the new political subject. With an open and lively democratic debate.
With clear decisions. We made the historical step. From tomorrow, with
our new Party, all together, more united and stronger than ever, we
begin the big and victorious journey. To stop social destruction and
rebuild Greece”.

The main
opposition party in Greece is no longer a coalition of smaller left-wing
and extreme left-wing structures but a single party, which will include
individual citizens. The decision had been taken at the congress which
lasted for four days and which ended with the election of Alexis Tsipras
leader of the already united party. He received the votes of 74% of the
delegates.

SYRIZA’s maturity from a coalition to a party was not easy. The
debates during the congress were violent and there were moments of great
tension as well. The final result of the vote for party leader in
favour of Alexis Tsipras showed not only the support of the majority for
him but also the presence of a dynamic minority. It is Panagiotis
Lafazanis’ "Left Platform" whose members had preferred the white ballot
and won 20.57% of the vote.

Alexis Tsipras defined the founding congress of SYRIZA as historic
for the left wing and for democracy in general, adding that the 3,500
delegates "signed the birth of the new through an open democratic
dialogue and clear decisions."

The bickering between the majority and its opponents on important
political issues such as the sovereign debt of Greece, the party's
position regarding the European currency, the euro area and the
cooperation with other political parties had become an informal forum.
For the first time in the history of the left wing, the delegates could
openly oppose or support different views.

Despite the proposal of the party leadership, some of the
constituent smaller parties had refused to dissolve. One of them was the
party of veteran of Greek resistance Manolis Gletsos, who said out
loud, "the others cannot decide for us." On the following day, however,
he changed his statements by saying the he supported Alexis Tsipras’
proposals.

According to commentators on social media, the anger of Manolis
Gletsos and Panagiotis Lafazanis may not be connected only to the
process of decision-making within the party but also to the allocation
of the state funding to the political parties. Sources say that in the
period when SYRIZA did not win more than 3% of the vote, the group led
by him received the sum of 150,000 euro per year. Others received
200,000 euro. "Maybe it is better to be acquainted with the contents of
the contract on the allocation of state funding to the different groups
in order for us to find out what has provoked the anger of Manolis
Gletsos," reads one of the comments.

After the angry reaction, the leadership suggested that the groups
be dissolved within three months. This had triggered a new round of
tension as a result of which the limitation was corrected to the
undefined "reasonable period of time."

According to the final decision, SYRIZA will operate on the
principle of "one member - one vote" and no trend, movement or
organization will have more privileges than members.

The amendments proposed by Panagiotis Lafazanis’ "Left Platform"
were rejected during the debate. One of them was for the complete
write-off of the Greek sovereign debt. The speech of Efklidis
Tsakalotos, a lecturer in economics, proved crucial for the final
decision on the issue. He said that the writing-off of the debt would
not solve Greece's problems but a change in the pattern of the
organization in the country would.

The other amendments were related to the return to the drachma,
Greece’s exit from the euro zone, the nationalization of banks and to
strategic industries. The banking sector strategy approved by the
majority is that the sector should operate under the direct control of
the state authorities.

At the same time, the latest poll shows that the difference between
the major political opponents is below 1% in favour of New Democracy.
Democratic Left records the greatest losses in terms of its influence
over the voters.

The results for the parties are as follows: New Democracy - 29.1%,
SYRIZA - 28.7%, Golden Dawn - 13.1%, PASOK - 7.3%, the Greek Communist
Party - 5.5%, Independent Greeks - 5.4%, Democratic Left - 3.2% and
Green environmentalists - 2.2%. 6.5% of respondents state that they are
not sure for which party they would vote in the event of elections.